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MADRID – World number one Vanessa Fernandes of Portugal and Filip Ospaly of the Czech Republic won the fifth edition of the Madrid BG Triathlon World Cup today in the Spanish capital. Fernandes ran away from her competition to claim her sixteenth world cup victory, her fifth in a row in Madrid, while Ospaly would wait until the last 30 metres before out-sprinting his closest rival. The two Europeans moved ever closer to their Olympic goals, claiming the lion’s share of the valuable Olympic ranking points as the second stage of the ITU Olympic qualification begins.
Fernandes, who recently won the ITU Duathlon World Championships, becomes the first triathlete to ever win five consecutive world cup titles on the same course. It’s the 16th world cup win of her career, pulling within three of Aussie Emma Carney’s all-time record. She also tightens her grip on the world rankings, remaining as number one and extending her lead over rival Emma Snowsill who drops to number three.
Using her superior strength, Fernandes managed to erase a 43 second deficit after the opening 1,500-metre swim on the tough bike course to run to her fifth consecutive Madrid world cup victory in a time of 2 hours 7 minutes and 33 seconds. It was almost a minute back to second place Andrea Hewitt of New Zealand, who managed to nip Michelle Dillon of Great Britain at the line in an exciting sprint finish.
“Good race… it was a good fast, run,” said Fernandes. “Madrid is special for me because it was where I won my first world cup. This is my fifth.”
With warm overnight temperatures, a non-wetsuit swim was called as the 54 women hit the water for the fifth round of the 2007 BG Triathlon World Cup series. A small group of women would exit the water first including Hewitt, her team mate Nicky Samuels and Annabel Luxford of Australia. The young Fernandes would be over 40 seconds back with eventual bronze medalist Dillon a further 53 second down. The small front group would not be able to coordinate a break-away however and would be swallowed up by the chase pack, being pulled by Fernandes. This pack of 12 would also choose not to work together, allowing the second chase group, containing Dillon, to pull up and form one large group of 30 women.
With no break-aways on the bike, a 10-kilometre run race would ultimately decide the victor. Fernandes immediately pulled to the front and would never look back, despite falling in the crowded transition area, crossing the line with bloodied knees and a Portuguese flag overhead.
“I fell in transition,” recalled Fernandes. “I think that is my first-ever crash.”
It would be almost another minute before Hewitt and Dillon would come into view, with last year’s silver medalist Hewitt managing to beat out the veteran Dillon in her first ever sprint finish.
“We ran together the whole 10k and it came down to the last sprint,” said the former Under23 world champion, Hewitt. “I gave everything I had into it. My form goes out the door when I start to sprint so I don’t know what I looked like.”
“On the straight I lost my footing a bit and Andrea got a little advantage and passed me and I knew from there, there was no comeback,” replied recent duathlon world championship silver medalist, Dillon. “I’m really pleased to stay away from Annabel [Luxford] though. The aim was to get on the podium.”
Finishing in fourth and fifth was Annabel Luxford of Australia, despite completing the bike and run with a large gash on her shin, and young Elizabeth May of Luxembourg, respectively.
In a spectacular finish Ospaly out-sprinted hometown favourite Javier Gomez of Spain to claim the gold medal in today’s Madrid BG Triathlon World Cup. Climbing back from an almost 90-second deficit after the bike Ospaly and Gomez would run side-by-side for the entire ten kilometres as the young Gomez continued to accelerate, dropping everyone but the Czech. However, with his renowned sprinting speed, the 30-year-old Ospaly would pull away only a few metres before the line to take his third world cup win in a time of 1:55:47. To the delights of thousands of spectators, another Spaniard, Ivan Raña, finished close behind in third.
“I am very satisfied that I had a good race,” said the father and doctorate student, Ospaly. “I’ve started here for 3 years and have never had a good result so last year I didn’t come here to forget the bad results. I have had two good results and hopefully these stay in my body.”
A long line of 29 athletes exited the 2-lap lake swim together and formed a large lead group over the 8-lap bike course. They would eventually be joined by another 12 athletes to form one massive group. Leading the group was current Under23 world champion Will Clarke from Great Britain until his wheel buckled under him bringing him and world second ranked Brad Kahlefeldt of Australia down. Although bruised, Clarke was not broken and, picking up his bike ran one kilometre to the closest wheel stop to try and rejoin the race. Both walked away from the accident, not sustaining any major injuries, but would eventually call it a day, taking two of the sport’s top runners out of contention.
“I was beside Brad [Kahlefeldt],” commented Gomez. “Will [Clarke] lost control and fell down. I touched Will but fortunately I didn’t fall.”
It was not until late in the 40-kilometre bike before a 3-man break-away containing Stuart Hayes of Great Britain, Axel Zeebroek of Belgium and Didier Brocard of Switzerland would get away, increasing their lead to almost 90 seconds. This would not last, however, as they would eventually be caught during the run.
In his usual fashion, the former Under23 world champion Gomez, moved quickly to the front of the run taking only a handful of athletes with him. Over the 4-lap run course the athletes would begin to drop off, unable to keep up the torrid pace, until only the two remained with 300 metres to go. This is when last year’s champion, Gomez, would go, pulling a few metres ahead.
“I tried to do all I can. I tried to push hard at the 6k but today Filip [Ospaly] was very fast and I couldn’t make a gap,” said Gomez, who keeps his world number one ranking with his second place. “I knew he is so fast in the end. I tried to break away before but I couldn’t.”
Not surprised, Ospaly responded and, to the disappointment of the crowd, passed the Spaniard with only 30 metres left.
“Javier [Gomez] is the best runner in the world cup circuit now and I know he starts with the group and runs quicker and quicker,” commented Ospaly. “The weaker athletes begin to drop. I knew I could get him in the finish and am very happy I did this.”
Close behind was Raña with two Germans, Daniel Unger and Maik Petzold, rounding out the top five, respectively.
| 2007 Madrid BG Triathlon World Cup – Elite Women results |
| FERNANDES, Vanessa (POR) | 2:07:33 | |
| HEWITT, Andrea (NZL) | 2:08:25 | +:53 |
| DILLON, Michelle (GBR) | 2:08:30 | +:57 |
| LUXFORD, Annabel (AUS) | 2:08:45 | +1:13 |
| MAY, Elizabeth (LUX) | 2:09:09 | +1:37 |
| DITTMER, Anja (GER) | 2:09:20 | +1:47 |
| ZEMANOVA, Lenka (CZE) | 2:09:21 | +1:49 |
| SAMUELS, Nicky (NZL) | 2:09:26 | +1:54 |
| DOLLINGER, Eva (AUT) | 2:09:29 | +1:57 |
| LORBLANCHET, Marion (FRA) | 2:10:16 | +2:44 |
| 2007 Madrid BG Triathlon World Cup – Elite Men results |
| OSPALY, Filip (CZE) | 1:55:47 | |
| GOMEZ, Javier (ESP) | 1:55:52 | +:05 |
| RAÑA, Ivan (ESP) | 1:56:08 | +:21 |
| UNGER, Daniel (GER) | 1:56:11 | +:24 |
| PETZOLD, Maik, (GER) | 1:56:14 | +:27 |
| DON, Tim (GBR) | 1:56:25 | +:38 |
| FRODENO, Jan (GER) | 1:56:30 | +:43 |
| VIDAL, Laurent (FRA) | 1:56:36 | +:49 |
| DEHMER, Sebastian (GER) | 1:56:42 | +:55 |
| HAYES, Stuart (GBR) | 1:56:48 | +1:01 |
Photo credit: Frank Wechsel/triathlon.org
Complete results at: Triathlon.org.
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